Smartphones, Millennials and Online Gaming

Posted by Harry Kane on Monday, February 5, 2018

If you’ve never heard of Millennials or so-called Generation Y, this is likely to change over the course of the next few years.

After all, the demographic includes individuals who were born in the build-up to the Millennium, and more specifically between the years of 1981 and 2000. Over the following 12 months, the youngest members of this increasingly seminal demographic will turn 18, optimising the spending power of the Millennial group and underlining their growing influence in the consumer market.

When you also consider that the Millennial demographic is also larger than the Baby Boomers and three-times the size of Generation X, it should come as no surprise that its members are setting important trends in various industries and marketplaces across the globe.

Make no mistake; Generation Y is definitely becoming central to the growth of the online gambling and casino market, while Millennials will surely come to dominate this space over the course of the next decade. Here’s why:

Smartphones Have Made Online Gambling Increasingly Accessible to Millennials

During the formative part of the online gambling expansion, it was estimated that only 10.6% of the people aged between 18 and 34 took part in any form of virtual betting. At this time, the average online gambler was in excess of 50 years old, with the market dominated by those making the transition from land-based bookmakers and casinos.

This trend has reversed noticeably during the last decade, however, having increased to 17.5% by the end of 2014. It has also continued to rise incrementally year-on-year, causing the average age of online gamblers to fall continuously as a result.

At the same time, we’ve seen online and mobile activity claim a higher share of the lucrative gambling industry, accounting for as much as 33% of the Gross Gambling Yield (GGY) at the end of the 2016 financial year.

There is a strong correlation between these two trends, in the form of emerging mobile technology. It’s well-known that Millennials have grown up with increasingly sophisticated and advanced devices such as smartphones and tablets, for example, while this demographic has also blazed new trails in terms of using this technology to curate content, innovate and spend their leisure time.

The enhanced capability and connectivity of modern handsets has undoubtedly empowered Millennials to gamble more prolifically online during the last decade, while also encouraging casual gamers to enjoy a wider range of titles during their downtime (such as the daily commute).

With Millennials also responsible for the vast majority of gambling apps accessible in the digital age, developments teams are able to create targeted games that appeal directly to the tech-savvy members of Generation Y.

The Rise of Skilled Games Has Appealed to Millennials

In many ways, the growth of the online gambling market has been empowered by games of chance such as slots. After all, this discipline has seen activity levels rise by more than 300% during the last eight years, with the fun and opportunistic nature of slots particularly appealing to novices.

It’s fair to say that skilled table and card games have also played a particularly seminal role in appealing to Millennials, however, with these activities having recorded double-digit growth since 2010 online.

Studies also bear this out, as statistics suggest that Millennials prefer to access games that incorporate a basic element of skill and enable them to exert some control and influence over the outcome. Particularly popular are games like poker and blackjack, where strategy and practical skills such as numeracy can afford competitors a competitive edge over their rivals.

Given the typical Millennials’ master of technology and their desire to control and curate content, it makes sense that members of this demographic should target casino games that allow them a measure of influence.

Similarly, as operators have diversified the online gambling experience and sought to target skilled players through clearly-defined games of skill, it’s also easy to understand how this approach has also increased the proliferation of Millennial gamblers. With developers likely to focus on creating more iterations of skilled games in the near-term, we should Millennials to become even more engaged within the marketplace.

Millennials Are Increasingly Educated and Capable of Gambling Successfully

When appraising the profile of the modern gambler, it’s important to note that participants have become increasingly educated in the virtual realm. This is often attributed to the emergence of an older and more professional generation of online gamblers, but its far more likely that this figure has been influenced by the rise of the Millennial gamers.

Remember, Millennials are currently considered to be the best-educated group of adults in the history of the western world, with one third of older Millennials (aged between 26 and 35) having earned at least a college or university degree. So, as this demographic has been empowered to gamble more frequently online, there has been a noticeable rise in the number of educated gamers active in nations such as the U.S. and the UK.

With the younger members of Generation Y also increasingly likely to achieve some form of higher education in the near-term, the number of online gamblers with a college or university degree will increase further over the course of the next decade.

Of course, the question that remains is whether or not a higher education can be leveraged to achieve success as an online gambler. This depends largely on your area of expertise, but if you also consider that Millennials are more likely to target games of skill then practical skills such as numeracy, hand-eye coordination, data analysis and psychology can certainly afford them a clear, competitive advantage.

The presence of an education also suggests that Millennials are more likely to gamble responsibly, as they look to balance this pastime with a rewarding and demanding career.

Aside from this, it can be argued that the rise of educated Millennial players is also helping to change the perception of the online gambling industry, while destroying many of the stereotypes that have characterised participants for generations. This certainly sits well with the UK regulator’s desire to drive responsible gambling, particularly with Millennials set to become more dominant in the marketplace in the future.